IN PHOTOS: 'Real big win' -- Wilson girls edge Lincoln

The Wilson Trojans turned on the defense and came out a 39-35 girls basketball winner at Lincoln High Tuesday night.

The Class 5A Trojans erased a seven-point, second-half deficit in what was a tight game all the way between two of the top teams in the PIL.

It was Wilson's seventh consecutive victory.

"A real big win for the girls," Wilson coach Mike Nolan said. "We hadn't played Lincoln in a few years, and to go their house and get the win is great for our players and our program."

Wilson (11-4 overall) leads the Portland Interscholastic League 5A at 5-0, one game ahead of Cleveland. The Trojans won 52-50 at Cleveland on Jan. 10 and will face the Warriors again at home on Feb. 7.

Wilson plays at 1-4 Benson on Friday to complete the first of two rounds of league play.

"We control our destiny," Nolan said. "And I don't think we've reached our peak yet. We want to start peaking at the end of the season and hopefully have a playoff run."

Lincoln (7-10 overall) led by one at halftime, then pushed its edge to seven before Wilson made a key spurt.

"We couldn't buy a bucket for a while, and both teams played really good defense," Nolan said. "We mixed it up on defense between zone trap and man-to-man  we like to keep people guessing  and we were able to keep them off-balance.

"We had some great defense, and our rebounding was good in key moments of the game."

Individual scoring was low, with Lincoln's Eve Goldman (10 points) the only player on either side in double figures. Hailey McPhee added 7 for the Cardinals.

For Wilson, Veronica Rivers had 9 points, and Alexa Hinkley and Lily Brodrick each scored 7.

Wilson has gotten used to close games. The Trojans' four losses have been by 2, 5, 6 and 7 points.

"The girls have competed day in and day out. They work really hard in practice," Nolan said. "Our depth is a plus, and our chemistry is far and away the best we've had in a long time."